Coast Guard promotes Kelly to CO of Seneca

Councilman Bill Kelly, left, attended the ceremony to promote his son William, center, to CO of the Coast Guard cutter Seneca. At right is his wife, Mary Kelly. Commander William G. Kelly, U.S. Coast Guard, son of Bill and Mary Kelly of Reservoir Circle, took over as commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Seneca at an Aug. 8 ceremony held in Boston.

Prior to taking the helm of the Seneca, Kelly was the school chief at the Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School in New London, Conn.

He is a 1987 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy.

Built at Derecktor Shipyard in Newport, the cutter Seneca is a 270-foot vessel launched in 1984. The ship routinely performs counter-drug law enforcement, fisheries law enforcement, search and rescue, alien migration interdiction operations and Homeland Security missions.

Kelly, 40, is a resident of Pawcatuck, Conn., where he lives with his wife Angie and sons Patrick and Tyler.